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HAWAIIAN AIRLINES DIAMOND HEAD CLASSIC MEDIA CONFERENCEDecember 16, 2013Gib ArnoldHONOLULU, HAWAII ELIZABETH MCCOLLUM: Coach, just a couple quick questions. Does hosting a tournament on your home court give you an advantage? COACH ARNOLD: Yeah, you bet it does. We sleep in our own beds. We have good crowds there. We get to eat Christmas dinner together at my house. You know, there is nothing wrong with playing at home. We love it. Q. Can you talk a little bit about your first round opponent in Boise State? COACH ARNOLD: You know, Boise, obviously, is a team we're pretty familiar with. We were in the same conference for many years, respect them and know what they're about. Obviously they're a highly efficient team. They've got great shooters, great offensive action, don't turn the ball over, all those things you need to do to win games. They're playing very good basketball. I know they've lost a couple originally, but both are outstanding basketball teams. We definitely respect Boise and know it's going to be a handful for us. Q. What's a tournament like this coming to your home State or coming to you, basically, how does it prepare your team for the rest of the season? COACH ARNOLD: It's kind of the highlight of our preseason, obviously. We get seven outstanding teams that come in, and we get a to play great basketball on the island of Oahu. The fans love it. As you can see, we have great turnouts to all the games. Everybody is kind of buzzing about it right now. It's actually a really fun time for us and for all the basketball fans here in Hawai'i. Q. I know everyone comes to Boise State and notice what they do from an offensive standpoint. I wanted your thoughts on defensively, I know that was a big push at what they wanted to get better at. Wanted to get your thoughts on what they do on that end of the floor? COACH ARNOLD: I'm sorry, what we need to do or what they need to do? Q. Just your thoughts on Boise State as a defensive team. A lot of people talk about their offense. Just wanted to get your thoughts on what they do defensively? COACH ARNOLD: Defensively they're very sound. They have the ability. They've got a lot of what we call interchangeable parts. When you've got that and you've got quickness, and you've got guys that know how to play, you can do a lot more things defensively. There is not really like a‑‑ I look at that team, and a lot of times we try to look at isolation match‑ups. You try to look for a little chink in the arm or where maybe you can attack one player or one part of the defense, and Boise doesn't present a whole lot of that. They're all very good athletes and they have good size and strength. They're very sound defensively. I don't see anything‑‑ I don't see any weakness there at all. Unfortunately, I think we're going to have to be extremely efficient offensively to attack them on the other side. Q. As far as your team goes, just as a whole, what stood out to you so far? What have you liked? On the flip side, what do you want to see your team get better at? COACH ARNOLD: I like our team how we're scoring. We're scoring at a really high rate. We've been able to go inside and out, and at times our bigs have led us in scoring. At times we've had our guards lead us in scoring. We have five guys in double figures, and I think that makes it tough for other teams to game plan against us. I don't know who is going to be our leading scorer, I'm sure it's hard for them to know who is going to be our leading scorer. I like that about our team. We share the ball. I like the idea that our bench is really helping. I don't feel like we've dropped down in our first four at all. I think we've got nine guys or even ten that can play. I'm confident with those nine or ten, and I like that. As most coaches, I think defensively we can do a lot of improving. I think we need to work on that. We've been giving up a lot of points, but that is a lot out of the system how we play. We push it, we score it, we shoot it pretty quick on the shot clock, which means there are a lot of possessions. But I'd like to keep percentages down. We've been able to do that for the most part. Guys aren't shooting a great three‑point percentage against us. Two‑point percentage is a little too high for us. We need to continue to work on our interior defense. We're not a big team. We have a seven‑footer that comes off the bench. But we're 6'8, 6'8, 6‑foot across the board on our starting lineup. So we're probably on the smaller side for Division I teams in this tournament. Q. Coach, wonder if you can tell me what the biggest benefit you derive from the Diamond Head Classic? Is it just the visibility or is it the competition? What do you see is the best thing that you get out of it? COACH ARNOLD: I think it's threefold. I think one the visibility. It being on ESPN every night. Not only do our teams parents and family and friends get to see it, so do our recruits. We sent a mailer out today advertising it to all of our recruits, and the game times and who is in it. I think that's huge. It's great for recruiting. Second of all, I think it's great for the State of Hawai'i, especially Oahu and all the basketball fans that can come in and see some great basketball and get revved up for the conference season. Third, I think it's a great‑‑ you know, we're playing three great games. There are the single games where we may be favored in. They're all high‑caliber teams and it's toughening us up. We have the opportunity to play these teams. A lot of teams in our conference don't get to play in a tournament like this with three back‑to‑back to back really good games, and it toughens us up and prepares us for conference play. I love that part of it. We know we're going to get three quality games through the Diamond Head. It's hard to find in a mid‑major. It's hard to get those teams to come play you. Q. What kind of reaction do you get when you tell recruits and they get a chance to come see you? COACH ARNOLD: They love it, especially that Christmas game. They sit down and open their presents and watch it. I get a lot of calls and emails and texts from that time from all those guys and other coaches as well. It's just a time to display the program. I love the fact that we're recruiting a kid out of New York or Chicago and it's minus‑7 and they're showing pictures of the beach and we're playing basketball. That's not a bad thing in recruiting as far as I'm concerned. Q. You and Coach Rice had a chance to play home at home in your perspective first years in your programs. Just your thoughts on meeting up again under this circumstance, and just where you guys have branched off, but just kind of the little reunion of sorts since the holiday? COACH ARNOLD: Coach Rice, I've known Coach Rice for a long time. We were in the WCC a long time together and Gonzaga and I was at Pepperdine. That one year in the WAC, obviously, it went the opposite way. They beat us at home and we beat them at home. So I don't know who has the homecourt advantage in this match‑up. But I respect Leon. He's done a marvelous job there at Boise State. It will be great to play them, but it's going to be competitive. They've got a an extremely good team, but we have a great team as well. It will be a tight game. It will come down to just a couple of plays. It will be a game that fans are going to love. I do think it's going to be a close game. I think we match‑up well with each other. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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